The sample for the Gambia's Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) was designed to provide estimates on a large number of indicators on the situation of children and women at the national level, for urban and rural areas, and for 8 Local Government Areas (LGA): Banjul, Kanifing, Brikama, Mansakonko, Kerewan, Kuntaur, Janjanbureh and Basse. The LGAs were identified as the main sampling domains and the sample was selected in two stages. Within each LGA, at least 14 and at most 99 census enumeration areas were selected with probability proportional to size. After a household listing was carried out within the selected enumeration areas, a systematic sample of 6,175 households was drawn. The sample was stratified by LGA and urban and rural areas, it is not self-weighting. For reporting national level results, sample weights are used. A more detailed description of the sample design can be found in Appendix A of the final report and among the technical documents in the archive.
Deviation from Sample Design
No major deviations from the original sample design were made. All sample enumeration areas were accessed and successfully interviewed with good response rates.
Of the 6,175 households selected for the sample, 6,171 were found to be occupied. Of these, 6,071were successfully interviewed for a household response rate of 98.4 per cent. In the interviewed households, 10,252 women aged 15-49 were identified. Of these, 9,982 were successfully interviewed, yielding a response rate of 97.4 per cent. In addition, 6,641 under -5 children were listed in the household questionnaire. Copies of the questionnaires were completed for 6,543 of these children. This corresponds to a response rate of 98.5 per cent. Overall response rates of 95.8 per cent and 96.9 per cent are calculated for the women's and under-5's interviews respectively.
Weights were used for the three datasets. The weighting variables are hhweight for the household datasets, wmweight for the women aged 15-49 years dataset and chweight for the children under five dataset.
Sample weights for the household data were computed as the inverse of the probability of selection of the household, computed at the sampling domain level (urban/rural within each region). The household weights were adjusted for non-response at the domain level, and were then normalized by a constant factor so that the total weighted number of households equals the total unweighted number of households. The household weight variable is called HHWEIGHT and is used with the HH data and the HL data.
Sample weights for the women's data used the un-normalized household weights, adjusted for non-response for the women's questionnaire, and were then normalized by a constant factor so that the total weighted number of women's cases equals the total unweighted number of women's cases.
Sample weights for the children's data followed the same approach as the women's and used the un-normalized household weights, adjusted for non-response for the children's questionnaire, and were then normalized by a constant factor so that the total weighted number of children's cases equals the total unweighted number of children's cases.